Flag of Bozja.
Bozja [ˈbɒz.jə] is a land in Final Fantasy XIV, located in the southern reaches of Ilsabard, to the west of Dalmasca. Over 30 years ago, Bozja was conquered by the Garlean Empire, making it a province under their control. Bozja is the homeland of the Hrothgar people, and is also known to be home to Hyur and Roegadyn.
History
Bozja's capital city as it appears in Cid Garlond's memories.
According to some of the earliest records, its suggested that Bozja was founded during the Third Astral Era. The Allagan Empire had reached the height of its power, and several Hrothgar tribes came seeking refuge from their supremacy. It wouldn't be until Queen Gunnhildr had appeared that the Allagans were held at bay. Under her leadership the Hrothgar rose to prosperity and the nation of Bozja was founded.
Unfortunately, this would not last as the Fourth Umbral Calamity ended the kingdom. Despite this, survivors slowly rebuilt and Bozja was reborn as a city-state that would coexist with neighboring nations for centuries to come. Bozja wasn't entirely prosperous, however, as its spiraling slums were filled with the homeless. The ruling nobles and merchant families held the lion's share of the nation's wealth, seven out of ten earned less than half the average income while one in three lived in squalor.
Garlemald's rise to power changed everything for Bozja and its people. None could oppose the sheer strength and versatility of the Garlean military, with the IVth Imperial Legion leading the invasion. Their campaign began some fifty years ago, and though the people of Bozja fought hard they were ultimately subjugated by the Garleans. Though Bojza's economy improved somewhat since it became an imperial province, homeless children remained a common sight in the major cities.
The Bozja Incident
In the year 1562 of the Sixth Astral Era, Bozja Citadel came to host the Empire's Project Meteor, led by premier Garlean scientist Midas nan Garlond. The Garleans had discovered the lesser moon Dalamud was not a natural celestial body, but an Allagan satellite. Nan Garlond surmised that within the moon slumbered a massive amount of untapped energy. With the Empire's attempted conquest of Eorzea stymied by their defeat in the Battle of Silvertear Skies, nan Garlond proposed Dalamud as an alternative method of conquest by pulling the moon down on the Eorzeans' heads like the Empire's own meteor.
Garlond sought contact with Dalamud, using an Allagan lunar transmitter donated by House Darnus. When the scientist communicated with Dalamud, its power was confirmed at a terrible cost, as nearly five thousand years' worth of pent-up energy was directed at the transmission tower. The beam was so intense that the entire surrounding city of Bozja was also vaporized in an instant, killing Midas nan Garlond and all of the city's inhabitants.
Firelight's Coffin, the epicenter of Dalamud's attack.
The Empire tried to cover-up the event, but the destruction of a major commercial center was too big to hide, and news of the catastrophe soon spread across the world and became known as the Bozja Incident, though the details behind it remained sealed to those outside the imperial command for years. Despite the catastrophe and the loss of Midas nan Garlond, Nael van Darnus would continue the project five years later, paving the way for the Calamity.
Resistance
Years later, following the both the Incident and the Calamity, when word reached the Bozjans that Ala Mhigo and Doma had risen up to defy the Empire and achieved liberation, they seized the opportunity to flee and form pockets of resistance. With Lord Hien's assistance, the groups merged into a single, cohesive force, the Bozjan Resistance, with Bajsaljien chosen as its leader.
The Resistance fought hard to liberate their homeland from the IVth Imperial Legion, even after discovering that the legion's Legatus, Noah van Gabranth, sought to make the provinces he conquered and controlled, Bozja included, into a new nation free from Garlean influence and where everyone would be equal. The Resistance worked to prevent Noah's plan, and though they face many setbacks, such as betrayal from within and handling a massive airship fleet Noah had brought, the Resistance refuses to give up. Their efforts and dedication pay off as their forces destroy the leading warship, the Dalriada, route Noah's armies and liberate the Bozja capital. After nearly three decades of Imperial rule, Bozja is free from Garlean oppression and now works on restoring their home to greatness. However, some believe it will be a long and difficult journey to restore Bozja, as there are still some within their culture that still support the old caste system, thereby believing themselves to be superior to others of lower station, making the goal of building a new future for Bozja more complicated.
Areas
- The Bozjan Southern Front is the main battleground between the Bozjan Resistance and IVth Legion. It is the site of the ruins of the capital city, destroyed in the Bozja Incident.
- Bozja Citadel was the former palace of Bozja until it was destroyed 15 years ago years ago by the Bozja Incident. All that is left now is Firelight's Coffin, a crystallized crater visible from the Bozjan Southern Front.
- Castrum Lacus Litore, formerly known as Alermuc Fortress, is in the north of the Bozjan Southern Front. It is surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs. Alermuc means "eagle" in the Bozjan language, while Lacus Litore means "lakeside" in Garlean.
- Delubrum Reginae is the underground ruins of an ancient palace, located in a vast cavern beneath the Bozjan Southern Front.
- Dirbenc is a remote region of Bozja.
- Gangos is a wetland on Bozja's southern coast used as the base of operations for the Bozjan Resistance.
- Kralja is a port city used by the Garleans to ship supplies from Dalmasca.
- Martrvje is a Bozjan port city home to 200,000 inhabitants. While it attracts laborers from all around for the promise of employment, it also has many homeless and orphans.
- Volod, on the western shore of the lake Igalj Kelo (meaning "mirror of water" in Old Bozjan), was an outpost where the Bozjan Resistance mustered their forces in secret until they were one day rooted out by Garlemald.
- Zadnor, meaning "sinking plateau" in Bozjan, is in the northeast of Bozja, on the border with Dalmasca.
- Zetina's Grace is several malms north of Martrvje, past gently sloping hills and beyond a massive ancient wall. It is a small village nestled between two hills and the location of the Verdant Path, an illustrious Bozjan martial arts school. It was once a Bozjan shrine.
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